


blue monday (will you call my name?)

by ev0lution



Category: Star Wars - All Media Types, Star Wars Sequel Trilogy
Genre: (fewer tags maybe), (it's poe), AU: The Man from Uncle, F/M, Gratuitous use of italics, Mutual Pining, Sexy Spy Shenanigans, Spoiler Alert - Freeform, The major character death this warns about is Kylo so have no fear, WHAT MORE COULD YOU WANT?, also: everyone is wearing neon the ENTIRE TIME, and Leia already has THE ADOPTIVE SON SHE DESERVES, and it's set in the eighties, because WHY NOT?!, han and luke live, ok enough rambling about plot this is about ROMANCE, ren is not han and leia's son bc i didn't want to deal w that emotional turmoil, there is no force bond, they're spies
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-03-26
Updated: 2020-03-26
Packaged: 2021-02-28 18:01:54
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 17,445
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23331328
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ev0lution/pseuds/ev0lution
Summary: Poe certainly wasn’t expecting a warm welcome. He wasn’t even expecting a lukewarm welcome. He definitely wasn’t expecting a bowl of pasta flying at his head, however. It was only thanks to his spy training that he was able to duck in time, the bowl shattering against the wall behind him.But then she had a knife, and who the hell gave this doe-eyed lunatic a knife?!---A loose The Man from Uncle AU set in the eighties instead of the sixties, because everyone wears neon and leg warmers the entire time, and also with Star-Wars-level technology because I wanted Beebee to be part of the story but couldn’t figure out a way to do it otherwise. There are no rules. This isfan fiction.
Relationships: Leia Organa/Han Solo, Poe Dameron/Rey, if you squint
Comments: 4
Kudos: 36





	blue monday (will you call my name?)

**Author's Note:**

> While I wrote this, I listened to Francis and the Lights “May I Have This Dance” feat. Chance the Rapper on repeat, which someone in the comments section described as “what it feels like when your crush likes you back”. I hope that energy is echoed here.

They were flown out of Rome that evening, in a private jet with Han and Chewie at the helm and Leia hovering over their shoulders, criticizing the former. It probably had something to do with the state of the jet itself; Poe had been in a few of Leia’s usual, plush ships before, and this one, though still a _private jet_ seemed like a clunker in comparison, with exposed wires and old panelling and an engine that wheezed worryingly when they began to ascend.

Things were quiet, otherwise. Luke sat on a chair with his legs crossed and his eyes shut, settling in to meditate. Finn fell asleep on the wide couch a few minutes into their flight, almost so fast that Poe had half-a-mind to check him for a concussion, despite the fact Finn was the only one of their three that _hadn’t_ been in a car crash in the last four hours. Rey was quiet too. She didn’t sleep, but she sat with her head leaned back against the wall and arms crossed the entire flight, like she was cold.

Rey had three nasty scrapes on her arm, still red and angry despite the medical attention she’d received. They weren’t even _bandaged_ , for goodness’ sake. Poe wanted to dig around for a first aid kit, to find something to soothe the painful redness of it. But he didn’t.

It wasn’t the only thing he noticed. Rey was still wearing that ring.

They landed in a field full of yellow flowers, surprisingly softly (though, admittedly, rather loudly). When they stepped off, Rey smiled so wide at the flowers that it kind of made Poe’s chest hurt. It kind of made him want to tuck some of her hair behind her ear. It kind of made him want to pick a fight with her.

“So this wasn’t some spur of the moment decision?” Finn asked, drawing Poe’s attention. He’d noticed something Poe hadn’t, because he wasn’t getting all caught up in Rey’s hair and her smile and her eyes. _He_ had some self-control. Finn continued, “Or do you really have that much money? And hey, are you really a princess? Poe said you were a princess.”

Leia cast a look at Poe, who raised his hands in surrender.

“Whoa,” Rey said, finally tearing her eyes from the flowers and spotting what Finn had.

The mansion was a sprawling monster of a thing, with tall white walls and pillars and red-orange tiled roofs. Dozens of windows studded its surface, reflecting the sunset behind them. It was totally outrageous.

“No,” Leia said, finally answering one of Finn’s questions. “No, this wasn’t a spur of the moment decision.” She approached the high iron gate, pulling out a large brass key and unlocking it, swinging it open. “More like a project. One that I’ve been working towards for the better part of twenty years. In fact, I consider the idea to be my favourite wedding gift.”

Han shook his head. “Don’t blame _me_ for this.” Leia just smiled.

Poe was better equipped than all of them to deal with the luxury of the mansion, having trailed after Leia for years, moving in and out of her safehouses, which were sometimes the size of closets and sometimes literal palaces. Finn had been in the game only few years fewer than Poe, but he still did his training in caves and forests, distant, untouched places where he could connect with nature and that strange Force he and Luke were so occupied with. Rey, of course, had lived in that narrow mechanic shop for as long as she could remember. Poe easily had the most experience with this kind of luxury, this kind of nauseating wealth.

But Poe still had that kid inside him, the one who escaped Guatemala in the middle of the night with his parents, the one who had grown up in a rented basement with one room. The elegance of the mansion still rocked him back a little bit, still made him hear his mother scold him to take off his shoes. He understood the looks of apprehension that crossed over Finn and Rey’s faces, the uncertainty that took over at the sight of such beauty.

Then Leia asked for them to meet in the breakfast hall in twenty minutes, gliding up one of the dual staircases with Han clomping behind her. Luke gestured at Finn and the two of them wandered off, probably to talk about destiny and their place in the universe, or something. Poe found himself glancing around the massive foyer, wondering where he would find the _breakfast hall_.

Rey, behind him, suddenly laughed. “ _Breakfast hall_?” He turned to look at her. She was shaking her head and smiling but her anxiety was apparent; she seemed to be shrinking. “The whole shop in East Berlin was smaller than this room.”

She wasn’t even exaggerating. He’d gone there after she’d fled (hilariously, and misguidedly, from _him_ ) and even he, who had passed through a lot of scummy, dark places on his missions, had found the tiny auto-shop grimy and pathetic.

But it wasn’t just the reference to the shop she’d worked in – been _forced_ to work in – for the better part of her life. It was Rey’s way of saying _I don’t belong here_. She looked like she might ralph.

Poe remembered that feeling. He remembered when he’d first gotten in the game and Leia had brought him to her personal mansion, somewhere in Spain. He remembered standing in the kitchen and staring at the fridge, because it had a _screen_ on it.

“It’s gotta be near the kitchen,” Poe reasoned, putting his hands in his pockets. “These rich hicks always had servants, and they’d want it to be close to them for food delivery, right?”

Rey smiled, a little more genuine this time. “Kitchen’s probably on the outside of the house. In case there’s smoke, you need a window.”

“Now you got it,” Poe said, stepping back and elbowing her lightly. He couldn’t explain the awkward gesture. He _wasn’t_ awkward, generally – he was a spy. He was always smooth. Poe was literally trained to be smooth but - he just wanted to touch her. “Come on. We’ll find it.”

///\\\\\

_He was about her height, dark curly hair, dark eyes. He had swung by her shop earlier, spoke with a British accent. Ren was supposed to have an American accent, but he, of course, could’ve faked it. Still, she didn’t think that was who he was, whoever he was – he didn’t have the same energy. It was... different. Fiery. Perseverant. But not evil - not angry._

_He was all of those things, and he was right behind them._

_Finn yanked on her hand, ignoring her protests, as he tugged them through the streets of East Berlin, dodging police and citizens as they ran from the man who had appeared at her shop mere minutes after Finn._

_Poe had shown up at the shop again, without the suit, and prowling around in the back like a cat burglar. Finn was the one who insisted they blitz, but it wasn’t a decision that Rey fought._

_She probably could’ve made it easier on Finn, who was just trying to rescue her, by not protesting. But she wasn’t a particularly good damsel, especially when she knew that her rescue should go_ LEFT, FINN, NOT RIGHT, GOD _!_

_They skidded to a stop as they hit a dead end and Rey bit back her_ I told you so _and reached onto Finn’s belt, yanking out his gun and shooting down the alley just as that man was about to round the corner._

_“Here, here!” Finn said, jumping up on a dumpster and helping her on top too, getting them over the fence that had blocked their path. They jumped over and ran down the alley, turning out onto the street._

_“Go, Rey!” Finn urged. He had run a couple feet ahead of her but now double backed, grabbing her hand and hauling her along while she shouted different directions back at him._

_The man behind them reached the top of the garbage bin too and raised his gun but immediately lowered it again, like he didn’t actually want to hit them._

_“This way!” Rey yelled, now yanking Finn with her, ignoring as he tried to point them in the opposite direction. She spotted a couple about to get into a car and shoved them out of the way, grabbing the keys and getting behind the wheel. Finn got into the passenger door and she hit the gas, just as the man exited the alley, taking off in a sprint after them._

_But then the man veered off into another alley. Rey looked over her shoulder at the alley, but the man was gone._

_“I don’t like the look of that,” Finn said._

_As if on cue, the man appeared from nowhere, leaping onto the hood as they swung around the corner. For a second, he made eye contact with Rey. His eyes were kinder than she’d expected._

_But Rey wasn’t about to judge someone’s character off how_ handsome _they were. She scrunched her nose and snarled, then hit the gas._

_The car jerked and the man smacked his face on the windshield, but he held tight. He wasn’t expecting her to jam on the breaks, however, and his grip broke loose as he was thrown to the cobblestones. Rey revved the engine before she veered around him, shooting past and leaving him in the dust._

_"Rey?!” Finn shouted as Rey laid harder on the gas. She ignored him, focusing on smashing through the barricades to West Berlin, shooting past shouting Soviets, faster than any of them could catch up. In her rear view, she watched the man pound the pavement with his fist, cursing them and their bright yellow Beatle as it rumbled away._

\\\\\///

Rey curled her legs up into her chair, trying to make herself smaller. She figured that the less she touched, the less she could destroy. She felt like a walking liability in this place.

The chairs in the breakfast hall were the kind with delicate, decorate wood, similar to the ones Plutt had stolen and had her chop up for firewood when the gas rations were backed up and they had to rely on themselves. Rey traced her finger along the careful carvings, thinking how expensive it must’ve been. How that money could’ve fed her for months.

Leia had made tea and pulled out some pastries, setting them on the table like she was a grand hostess, and hadn’t missed out on two nights of sleep like the rest of them. Leia pulled her energy and her patience from thin air, not even blinking when Rey pulled her portions over too quickly, still eating too fast, like someone was about to come and knock it out of her with a punch to the throat.

“I want you to lay low for a while,” Leia instructed, looking at the three of them. Rey swallowed the last of her second scone and nodded, looking at the others. Finn was nodding too, taking the orders easily. Poe had a question.

“What are we waiting for?” He asked, “We were in such a rush to get out here...”

“There’s chatter, but nothing certain. Right now, we’ve got the local criminal syndicates scared. They’ve gone underground, after what you did to the First Order. I want you out of their eye, let them calm down a bit and crawl back into the light.” She smiled, “Until then, Poe, I want you to conduct spy training.”

“I can handle myself,” Rey sat up, speaking around a mouthful of croissant.

“And you’ve more than proven that,” Leia agreed, nodding along. “But if you’re going to work for this organization, you’re going to need to go through the proper training, same as anyone else. You as well, Finn.”

It was Finn’s turn to protest, “Luke taught me _plenty_ \- “

“All very useful,” Leia said, again diplomatic. “But hardly anything beyond combat forms and energy readings – that, plus your charm, will only get you so far.” A loud ringing interrupted them. “One moment, please,” Leia said, sweeping out of the room.

They listened to the phone stop ringing as Leia answered it, then her saying, “Hello, Luke.”

At the name of his commander, Finn stood, following her into the hall. It left Rey and Poe at the table, beside one another but looking ahead, at the table in front of them.

Rey swallowed the last of her croissant and turned to look at Poe. She looked at her finger. She was still wearing the ring he’d given her for their cover; she kept finding ways to rationalize its presence, but she couldn’t think of anything now. At least, not anything she’d already used. Carefully, Rey slid it off her finger and turned to Poe again, holding it out.

“You probably want this back,” she said. Poe, who had looked deep in thought, almost started, looking at her then the ring she offered.

Poe took it, his fingers brushing against hers for a moment before he set the ring in his open palm and considered it. Rey remembered the way he’d produced it less than a week ago with less than a day’s notice, telling her they were now _engaged_ , of all things.

“Thank you,” Poe said, closing his fingers over the ring.

“It seems… important to you,” Rey said, “You should have it back.”

“Most definitely. It is important,” Poe said. Now he looked up at her, cracking that charming smile. “It looked good on you, though.” Rey smiled back at him and tried to ignore the way her finger felt oddly empty.

///\\\\\

_Poe certainly wasn’t expecting a warm welcome. He wasn’t even expecting a_ lukewarm _welcome. He definitely wasn’t expecting a bowl of pasta flying at his head, however._

_It was only thanks to his spy training that he was able to duck in time, the bowl shattering against the wall behind him._

_But then she had a knife, and who the_ hell _gave this doe-eyed lunatic a knife?!_

_“Relax, kid,” Luke said with annoyance, flicking the knife out of her hand with a swipe of his hand. He was seated at the table of the safehouse, the only one of their trio to remain in his place when Leia walked in, followed closely by Poe._

_The man she’d escaped with not an hour ago stood next to her, looking just as suspicious, a little less pissed. The brunette – who turned out to be their shared target – was about Poe’s height, scowling, and more than a little dangerous. He probably should’ve expected it, however; she did come to the agency’s attention because she started a_ lightning storm _in the middle of a clear, sunny day. He would add “killer arm” to her file. Poe had never met a damsel that was so damn_ difficult _to rescue, all because she insisted on doing it herself._

_Poe knew the man on sight – Finn, a student of Luke Skywalker’s. He’d been told that he wouldn’t be the only one after Rey, but he’d expected someone a little more... inclined to wearing unflattering shades of red. In other words, he’d expected someone evil. Still, it didn’t mean Poe was happy about seeing him; if Leia was on one side of the room with Poe, and Luke was on the other side with the Jedi’s_ best _... Poe didn’t like where this was going._

_Poe knew Finn was thinking the same thing, looking between the siblings warily. Even Rey – that was the only name provided on her file, just three letters long – seemed to know something was up. She seemed to be fighting the urge to grab something else to throw and didn’t seem picky about who she hit._

_When no one else spoke, Rey did. “You’re the idiot who chased us halfway across East Berlin.”_

_“Actually,” Poe drawled, knowing it would get under her skin, “I’m the idiot that nearly caught you in East Berlin.”_

_“Yeah,” Rey said, “_ Nearly _. Too bad my car got in your way.”_

_“Alright, calm down,” Finn said, raising his hands in surrender. Poe smiled tightly at him, reaching to scrub his jaw and accidentally brushing a cut he’d gotten on his chin – from when_ she _threw him from her car, not an hour ago._

_“We’re all on the same side here,” Luke said, more to Finn. Finn regarded Luke then seemed to relax, still glancing at Poe with narrowed eyes. He_ must _know who he was, like Poe knew him. Poe smiled easily at him._

_Rey, on the other hand, hadn’t been settled at all by Luke’s words. She had crossed her arms tightly, looking at all of them (excluding Finn) with a heavy air of distrust._

_“Finn, Rey,” Luke said, “This is my sister, Leia Organa Solo.”_

_“I don’t use the ‘Solo’ professionally,” Leia told them, smiling. She was completely unbothered by the tension cording through the room; in fact, she seemed to thrive on it. “It’s a pleasure to meet both of you.”_

_“Leia heads an agency – its aim is to take down the worst of the worst. In this case – the Knights of Ren and his organization, the Sith.”_

_Finn began to nod, “We have all the same targets.” Luke nodded at him in return._

_“So, we’re all going to work together,” Luke said, giving Rey a pointed look. “If we can handle that.”_

_“I thought the Jedi were neutral,” Rey said, her own challenge. She still looked at Poe with open distrust. “Isn’t aligning with some kind if_ agency _,” she said the word pointedly, like she didn’t buy it for a second, “The opposite of that?”_

_“Look around, kiddo,” Poe couldn’t help but chime in, “The Jedi aren’t exactly thriving.”_

_“Well neither were_ you _, an hour ago,” Rey shot back. She grew on him, just a little. “And don’t call me kiddo. My name is Rey, which, if you were after me, I’m sure you know. Or maybe you’re concussed from falling off my car. You know. When I hit you with it.”_

_Poe couldn’t help it; he cracked a smile. “I would’ve got you,” he promised, “If Leia hadn’t radioed me to say we were meeting you here anyways.”_

_“Keep telling yourself that, hotshot.” She didn’t give him an inch._

_“If you’re finished,” Luke interrupted, looking at Leia, who was almost smiling. “He’s right – the Jedi don’t have the numbers we used to.”_

_Rey looked at him, “How many are there now? We can call upon them. Hundreds?”_

_“Well,” Luke said, and again he looked to Leia, apparently for help this time. But Leia just shook her head at him, still smiling, “Counting me and Finn?” He did a little headcount, mouthing numbers. Then he looked at her and said, forcefully, “_ Two _. Leia’s trained too, but - “_

_“I don’t like the Jedi’s rules,” Leia finished for him. “I don’t find them particularly useful. But, if we want a shot to take down the First Order, we need to work together – and that’s why we’re all here. Please, everyone take a seat. Rey, Finn, this is Poe Dameron.”_

_Poe remained stubbornly by the door, nodding at both of them. Rey stayed standing too, glaring at him._

_“We’re here for a very important reason,” Leia said. She turned her scolding eyes on Poe, who felt himself crumble immediately. Poe took two steps and sat at the small kitchen table with Luke. Rey relaxed slightly onto the arm of the couch, arms still crossed, but at least she was sort of sitting._

_“Our sources say that Ren has two extremely powerful warheads, which he intends to sell to the highest bidder. Their detonation would be devastating, especially if used on the same target. It’s our job to find and neutralize the threat.” Leia turned her eyes on Rey, “Ren is handling the sale himself. He has also taken a personal interest in you, Rey, as Finn has told you. If you’ll accept it, we’d like to make use of you. If not, we will get you somewhere safe, with proper guardianship and a new start. But if you were to help us, we could give you the training you seek.”_

_Poe piped up. While Leia was making her impassioned speech, he’d helped himself to some of the pasta. What? He hadn’t eaten since_ breakfast _. Poe held his bowl against his chest, waving his fork at them. He knew the answer to his question, but he wanted to see how Rey answered it – if she’d lie and try to hide or be honest. “What does a superhuman freak want with her, anyways?”_

_Rey fixed him with a steely glare. Flicking her hand, Poe’s bowl of pasta suddenly dumped onto his shirt and into his lap, spilling sauce all over his neat pants. She said indignantly, “I’m a superhuman freak, too. And, I’m_ better _at it.”_

_It was her first test. She passed with flying colours._

_Finn snorted beside her. Rey puffed out her chest a little more. Despite the sauce now soaking into his underwear, Poe felt his interest pique. For all of Ren’s shit qualities, he could... start to understand this._

_“We draw Ren out,” Leia continued, as if nothing had happened. “With Rey’s help. We find what he wants with her and what his plans are for the warheads. And then we take down the First Order. And we will do it together.”_

_She seemed to have added on the last piece for Rey and Poe in particular, who continued to glare at each other across the room._

_Finn stretched across the back of the couch, looking far too comfortable with the situation. “This mission will be just fine.” It didn’t feel like a winning declaration._

\\\\\///

Rey’s skin itched with Leia’s orders. _Lay low_ , she’d said. _Relax, even. You’ve earned it._

It felt more like a punishment than a reward. As soon as they were dismissed, Leia showed them their rooms. Rey had every intent to go raid the closet for something more practical than the dress she’d been wearing since the crash then go explore the house, but she’d barely changed out when she fell asleep on the huge, comfy bed. When she woke, it was nearly noon the next day and she was unsettled by it all, ridiculously. She’d never slept for so long and so deeply. Anything could’ve happened while she slept – her inner scavenger scolded her, she could’ve been attacked or snatched or -

But her fearful inner monologue was brought to an abrupt halt when she reached the breakfast hall and found someone had left breakfast out for her. There was even a note that said cream and milk were in the fridge, if she wanted either for her tea, which was still warm on the table. It was a small gesture, but it made the fear in her gut uncoil as she felt suddenly more secure in her future.

After eating, she spent the day exploring the mansion, poking in every drawer and door she could find. She also found Finn, meditating with his eyes closed in some wide room with a view of the flower fields. Rey shut the door quietly and moved on, prowling through all three levels. She returned to her room as she passed it in her systematic perusal of the second floor, only staying out of Finn and Poe’s rooms, which were across from hers. She studied the hand-painted designs on the wardrobe and the balcony – the _balcony –_ that stretched across the length of her room. She wandered out to watch the flowers swaying in the breeze, like a sea of yellow disturbed by soft waves. Then she spotted Poe, jogging towards the house in a sweat soaked crop top and headband.

“Hey,” he called up, raising his hand at her. Rey waved back, leaning her elbows on the railing. “We checked in on you – thought we’d let you sleep.”

Rey felt herself flush, feeling warm and cared for in a lot of ways that made her want to blush. “Thank you,” she said, watching the way his curls stayed springy even when sweaty. “I was just exploring, actually.”

“Yeah?” Poe asked, cracking a crooked smile. “You should check out the first door on the left after the breakfast hall.”

Rey, instantly curious, straightened. She waved and turned away, resuming her search.

Resisting the urge to immediately run down to the room Poe indicated, she finished her round of the second floor, poking her head in each door to get a general idea of what was in there. She avoided the east wing – Leia and Han had taken a room over there, and she was sure she didn’t want to disturb them – so Rey headed downstairs instead, opening doors to the kitchens and dining rooms and even a ball room, on one end, which had been converted to some kind of makeshift gym. Rey made a mental note of it and continued on.

She reached Poe’s door last. Anticipation crept up her spine as she opened the door to a narrow hall. There was a small side table inside with shoes stack beneath it and a cassette player left in a key bowl, the cord for the headphones carefully wrapped around it. She knew it wasn’t something left there by the last occupant, because it was propped up and when she popped in the headphones and pressed play, she recognized the sound of Whitney Houston immediately. Rey smiled widely at the opening drums and upbeat claps, followed by Houston’s happy plea, singing about chasing her own blues away.

That wasn’t all. Rey followed the hall down a set of stairs then another door at the end. When she opened the door, she gasped out loud, “No _way_.”

It was a garage full of the most beautiful cars Rey had ever seen. She stopped in the doorway, her jaw wide open. There was a cherry red Ferrari in front of her, and she could see a sleek black Jaguar in the back. They all looked like custom models, with beautiful interiors and _screens_ on their dashboards.

Rey went to the nearest convertible and touched it reverently, running her fingers carefully along the line of the door. Reaching inside the open window, she found the latch for the hood and popped it, rounding to lift it and look at the engine.

“ _Stellar_ ,” Rey muttered, looking at the shiny engine parts. Just then, the song on the cassette ended, leaving a window of quiet long enough for her to hear a curious beep to her left. Rey turned, lifting the thin headphones off her head and hooking them around her neck, spotting a flash of white and orange duck behind a shiny white Lamborghini.

Rey leaned over, trying to get a look. Just then, a little round head appeared, tilting to look back at her. “Hello,” she said, smiling gently. “I’m Rey.”

The little thing rolled out in front of her car carefully and Rey felt her smile grown now that she had a full look of the little orange and white ball rolling out to meet her. _Broop_?

“Is that,” Rey paused, trying to remember, “That’s Binary? Are you speaking Binary, little one?”

_Beep broop?_

“Most definitely. I know Binary,” Rey said, lowering slowly to the floor, not wanting to scare him off. “I learned it at work – working on some of the military tech that the Soviet dropped off for me to fix. They knew I was the best on their side of the wall.” She wasn’t _supposed_ to learn the language. _Tough_. They should’ve kept a closer eye on her. She watched the droid roll in place, watching her. “What’s your name?”

_Beep!_

“Beebee-Ate? That’s a lovely name. Beebee, would you like to go for a ride?”

_BROOP!_

Rey’s smile became more of a smirk.

Five minutes later, she was ripping through the grassy field out back, her own delighted yells mingling with Beebee’s happy squeals. She switched the gears on the Ferrari, taking the turn in a slide, spinning in a full circle before revving the engine and going again.

It was totally worth the look on Poe’s face, when he found her and Bee tracking mud and grease across the beautiful marble flooring, her designer clothes ruined beyond repair. (That _look_ may have even made it _better_.)

///\\\\\

_“Appearances are everything when you’re a spy,” Poe told her, looking at the racks of clothing the attendant had gathered for them. Rey wandered behind him, eyeing the short dresses with curiosity, not outright rejection. But when Poe turned, she fixed her expression into skepticism, a half-glare she obviously felt was safest with him._

_“If you’re going to play the part of marrying into money,” he warned her, “You have to look the part.”_

_Poe knew Finn had filled her in on a bit of their planned backstory; in fact, he was recycling the exact words he heard Finn use when he coaxed Rey into the shop, telling her she had to look the part for the mission. Rey hadn’t shown any trust in Poe at all, despite her agreeing to work with them. It was why Poe had made certain_ he _wasn’t going to be the one telling her about the plan._

_Rey looked to Finn, who was sprawled on one of the fancy loungers in the store. He was holding a tray of treats that the saleswoman had handed them on their way in and looked up from picking up his next pastry. “Oh, yeah, Rey – we figured out the rest of your backstory.”_

_Correction: Poe_ thought _Finn had filled her in._

_Finn set the plate down and Poe braced himself as Finn started to explain, “Ren will have questions for how you suddenly and conveniently appeared in front of him – we’ll say you’re engaged. He’ll be rich and well-established in Ren’s circle, which explains your appearance and your escape from East Berlin in one neat swoop. It also means we can have someone close to you the whole time.”_

_“Oh,” Rey said, nodding. She seemed more relaxed than Poe had expected. Of course, Finn was still holding back. “That makes sense,” Rey said, “How long are we going to say we were together?”_

_Poe got ready to duck. Finn broke out into a wide grin._

_“Not me, unfortunately,” Finn said, only half apologetic. Rey’s eyebrows lifted and she looked to Poe, who refused to twitch, no matter how hard she glared. Instead, he smiled. “Poe’s been working on a cover in Ren’s circle for months. He can get an invitation to the next party Ren throws.”_

_“Are you kidding me?” Rey asked, looking to Finn. Harsh. It was clear she’d much rather it be him._

_Poe tried not to be offended. At least he’d only protested to Leia, and outside Rey’s hearing._

_“Look,” Poe said, “I’m not pleased about it either.” He set his hands on his hips, “You’ve got no training, no background, and very little control over those powers of yours – “_

_Rey’s eyebrows jumped and the clothing rack beside Poe twitched. He took a big step away from it._

_“Hold on, hold on,” Finn said, standing and waving them both down. He took Rey’s hand and then Poe’s, shaking them gently. “Look – we’re all going to have to work together on this. Remember what Luke and Leia said: we have a common enemy. And I, for one, think you two are more similar than you think.”_

_Rey watched Poe suspiciously and he returned the favour. Finn looked up and saw the saleswoman putting some clothes on the rack and was distracting, releasing their hands and making a_ tsk _sound with his tongue, “No, sorry, we don’t want anything Dior – “_

_Poe sighed loudly, half to get Rey’s attention, half to annoy her. He dug around in his pocket and produced a small, beautiful ring. He considered it for a moment, the ring looking odd without the chain that so often accompanied it. Then he held it out._

_Rey glared, like the ring was a personal offence. It made Poe want to snatch the ring back._

_“Where’d you get that so fast?” Rey asked, still defensive. Then Poe saw what that defensiveness was really for: she was scared. He felt his own annoyance melt away, shoulders slumping. He remembered what that was like, a little too well._

_“I have my sources,” he said, “Please take good care of this.”_

_Something in his voice must’ve got to her, because Rey didn’t thrust it off like he’d expected. Instead, she watched him carefully, like he’d shown an unexpected card._

_“And I promise,” Poe said, remembering his first undercover couple mission, “That we won’t do anything you’re not comfortable with, okay? We’ll talk about boundaries before the mission. If you ever get scared, squeeze my hand. I promise I’ll stop, whatever it is. Even if it’s a no to a hug.”_

_Rey was still watching him carefully, like she was trying to puzzle him out. After a moment, she held out her hand to him, offering her finger. Poe took her hand and slipped on his mother’s ring, watching it slide past her knuckle and glide into place. It fit perfectly. The universe loved to laugh at him._

\\\\\ ///

Rey scratched her cheek, looking down at the engine. The cars were beautiful, but Rey soon discovered that many of them needed some basic maintenance, like oil changes. Luckily, there was a seemingly endless amount of supplies in the cabinets along the walls. Rey would’ve polished the engines needlessly, if it meant having something to do. Even if the work was boring, she was happy to be doing _something_.

“Thought I’d find you down here.”

Rey looked up at the new voice, spotting Poe coming out of the door connected to the house. She wiped her hands on her rag and smiled at him, leaning her hip against the bumper. “Just doing some maintenance,” she said.

Poe walked over to peek into the engine, then looked at her, “If you’re busy, we could go later – “

“Go where?” She said, almost breathlessly. She was going mad staying at the mansion. Rey had never had a quiet day in her life; now faced with _two_ of them, she felt like she was going to crawl out of her own skin.

But then she noticed Poe beginning to smile. “It looks like you’re working pretty hard, I wouldn’t want to disturb you – “

He’d stepped towards her, coming with reach. She reached out and shoved against his ribs as his smile came out in full force and he caught her hand, holding it against him. “Leave in ten. I’ll drive.”

“That’s _cruel_ ,” Rey said, trying to shove him again, but he was still holding her hand, so she couldn’t. She _could_ feel his laugh, however.

“Maybe on the way back.”

Rey tried to shove him again, but Poe kept hold of her hand, laughing while she swore at him.

Poe drove them into town. With one hand on the steering wheel, he turned his head towards her, glancing away from the road.

“Spy lesson one,” he said, over the noise of the wind. He’d chosen a convertible Ferrari for the drive. She’d worried he was going to pick one of the more discreet vehicles – a BMW or a, worse, a _Honda_ – but he was as much a sucker for the muscle cars as Rey was. It was why she wasn’t _too_ sore about not driving.

“Situational awareness,” Poe continued, “A good spy is able to notice just about everything about their environment. You need to understand three things about your environment: its elements, your comprehension of how those elements work together, and how those elements can change in the future.”

Rey nodded, absorbing it all. She knew Poe had years of experience behind him, which included at least four years of training. Finn had been prepping for less, but he still had a leg up on her. Rey was eager to learn anything he could teach her.

Poe seemed to know where he was going. He didn’t ask for directions or assistance, but he did lean forward to check street signs several times, mouthing them under his breath in between chunks of his lecture.

Poe parked the car and turned to her, “Okay. Your first test: situational awareness is, simply, _noticing_ , and being able to recall that information later. I want you to count how many wrist watches you see.”

Rey raised her eyebrows. “Wrist watches?”

Poe nodded. “Wrist watches,” he smiled, “It’s harder than you think. Loser buys ice cream.”

“Alright,” Rey said, nodding, feeling her competitive streak rise. “You’re on.”

They left the car and walked up and down the street, weaving in and out of stores. Poe evidently had some errands to run and took advantage of the extra hands – Rey trailed after him as they walked from store to store, gathering groceries and household supplies. In one shop, while Rey leaned against a display with elbows full of groceries, eyes sharp for any watches, Poe appeared with a couple pairs of coveralls, holding them up to check their size against her.

“So, you stop destroying your _very expensive_ clothes,” Poe said.

“Clothes shouldn’t be expensive,” Rey insisted stubbornly. “They’re _clothes_.”

They continued down the block, ditching bags in the car as they passed, heading towards the ice cream shop. Rey quickly scanned the rest of the street, trying to spot more wrist watches, because she knew the question was coming.

It was a lovely day; warm, but not too hot, with a light bright that was enough to brush her hair but not make her chilly. It meant there was a long line at the ice cream shop, with a steady stream of people moving out of the exit door and the line spilling out the entrance door, all the way out into the sidewalk.

“So,” Poe said, leaning back against the glass window of the shop. “Lay it on me, Rey. How many did you get?”

“Forty-six,” Rey said confidently, knowing she was correct. Poe smiled.

“Well done,” he said, “Ice cream is on me.” They bumped up a place with the line and Poe asked causally, “How many exits were in the last store we were in?”

Rey looked at him, “I – “ She thought for a moment, “Three.”

“Four,” Poe corrected, “Probably missed the door to the backroom of the shop. Still counts. What was the blonde woman wearing in the grocers?”

Rey paused, thinking, “Which one?”

Poe smiled. _Nice try_ it said. “There was only one blonde.”

Rey bit her lip, thinking hard. “A blue coat?”

“Close. Blue dress,” Poe said. “There was a gentleman in the department store that had green pants. What was he buying?” Rey thought back to the department store, biting her lip. But Poe continued before she could remember, “And what about the man on the street we passed as we turned the corner, what did he look like?” He paused long enough for her to speak. When she didn’t reply, he asked, “Where were the fire alarms in the first store we went into?”

Rey sighed, leaning back against the glass as they moved up in the line. “I don’t know.”

Poe smiled gently at her, unpatronizing. “On missions, you’ll have objectives, just like the wrist watches. But you must notice other things, too. Situational awareness is about noticing _everything_ , unfortunately. Oftentimes, it’ll be lifesaving. It just takes practice.” They moved up in line; now they were in the entranceway, squished in the narrower space. “Describe the person who went into three of the same stores as us.”

“She had brown hair,” Rey said immediately, remembering her. “Red shirt, large tote purse. She bought something in each store.”

“Good,” Poe said; paired with his bright smile, Rey felt the praise all the way to her toes. He was closer than he’d been before, just on the other side of the doorway, his back pressed to the frame like hers. “That’s good, Rey. Patterns can be the hardest things to spot. We’ll build off of that.”

They entered the shop with the next move of the line. The sudden blow of air conditioning made Rey grasp her elbows, wearing one of those impractical dresses Finn and Poe had argued over in the store. It was covered in polka dots and had pockets; she liked the way it swished around her legs, for all its impracticality. She’d never gotten the chance to wear _nice_ things. She didn’t mind them at all.

She watched Poe cross his own arms, bare in the tank top he was wearing. They flexed as he crossed them; Rey traced the bumps and ridges from his shoulder down. He’d mostly worn suits on their mission. The homemade tank tops, with the sleeve cut off, were new.

“What kind do you want?” Poe asked, looking through the glass display. Rey leaned forward and peered into the freezers.

“Strawberry,” she said. Poe ordered her a double-scoop and a chocolate for himself, paying as promised. Rey knew he’d rigged their bet; knowing she would count all the watches, he’d set it in her favour, to soften the other lesson he’d given her. It endeared her to him a little more.

He tossed her the car keys on the way out of the shop.

/// \\\\\

_They were lucky they had built her real backstory into her cover. Otherwise, Rey would be giving them away for sure – big time. She was stumbling through the simplest of small talk, struggling with any kind of pop culture reference. Poe could only laugh as if charmed so often._

_Rey_ did _get thrown feet-first into the whole thing, Poe reasoned with himself – their first undercover work had been a literal walk in the park so Ren’s cameras could get some shots of them together. After that, they jumped straight into this, a cocktail party at the races, where every rich, morally corrupt snob had flocked to impress_ the _Kylo Ren._

_Still, Rey had insisted she could do this. She needed to pull some of her own weight, or no one was going to believe them._

_As Poe drew them away from a Russian couple that thankfully found Rey adorable rather than suspicious, he set his hand on Rey’s back and leaned in to speak into her ear. A lover whispering sweet nothings, to anyone who looked. But his words were hardly sweet._

_“If you don’t know what they’re talking about,_ deflect _,” he reminded her. His tone was at odds with his expression, the charming smile Poe had used to make marks swoon on more than one occasion. Rey, infuriatingly, was completely unimpressed with it._

_She smiled back at him, leaning her head towards him, “It’d be easier to_ deflect _if you’d actually step in once in a while.”_

_“Forgive me for thinking you’d be capable of making conversation – “_

_“You know what you are?” Rey interrupted, her smile bright and sunny. It would’ve made a weaker man kneel._

_“What?” Poe asked, leaning further into her space. “What am I, Rey?”_

_“You’re difficult,” Rey said, like it was a breeze, with a big smile, “You’re totally difficult. You’re a difficult man, Poe Dameron.”_

“ _You are –_ gah _,” Poe swung around to face her, tipping his head towards her. “And don’t use my name.”_

_“Oh, sorry,” Rey said, dropping that smile. Poe’s knees suddenly felt steadier. “I can’t believe I forgot the brill cover that is Poe_ Black _, they’ll never make the connection – “_

_Poe stood straight, staring at her. He wanted to shake her. He wanted to yell at her. He wanted to wag his finger at her and lean in and get in her space and then he wanted to kiss –_

_Wait,_ what _?_

_Poe lurched back. He looked at her. She was wearing a green dress. It brought out the flush in her cheeks. And her eyes. He’d never seen brown eyes quite like that._

_“I’ll get us drinks,” he said, spinning away from her. He spun back to her startled expression and pointed at the floor, “Stay right_ here _.”_

_“Oh, yes,_ sir _,” Rey said, rolling her eyes at him while something in Poe’s stomach_ twitched _._

_Poe shot to the bar a couple feet away. He signalled for the bar tender to make them a couple drinks and leaned an elbow on the bar._

_A man slid up beside him, holding a camera. “That was cute,” Finn muttered, pretending to inspect the lens of his camera._

_“Bite me,” Poe said._

_“I think she likes you,” Finn said._

_“Shut up,” Poe said, “Or I’ll get you thrown out.”_

_But Finn just laughed, the traitor, waving down a bar tender for himself._

_Poe waited impatiently for their drinks, watching as the world’s slowest bartender meticulously made their drinks. Behind him, he was hyper-aware of the party, of every polite conversation and tinkling laugh that erupted from the crowd. A new voice, one with a deeper timber, caught his attention._

_“You’re Rey.”_

_Poe looked up into the reflection of a metal water jug in front of him and spotted him, just over his left shoulder; Kylo Ren had somehow appeared out of the air and was currently holding Rey’s hand in a gesture that seemed far too intimate for a racetrack. Or a first meeting._

_“Yes,” Rey said, smiling tight at him. She was still angry, and she was going to blow this first contact with Ren. Poe stood taller, trying to move and catch her attention without doing the same for anyone else. He leaned his arm against the bar casually, looking over. Her eyes jumped immediately to him. Poe made a calming gesture with his hand, lowering it down near his waist._

_Rey’s face relaxed a little. She smiled. “You’re Kylo Ren, I’ve heard of you.”_

_Then their conversation grew a little quieter as Ren moved closer, and Poe had to strain to hear. Poe heard snatches of Ren’s praise of Rey’s work in Berlin. Feigning misunderstanding, Rey made a joke about mechanical work (and_ dammit _, Poe had been wrong, she_ was _decent at this). But Ren played right into her hands and said what was most interesting about her was the lightning she’d created._

_Poe hadn’t seen it, of course. But he’d seen photos of it – the action that had caught the eyes of agencies, light and dark, all over the world. It’d been hard to miss, especially for all those watchful spy networks. The lightning had gathered in a ball above the city before it shot down into the streets, striking Unkar Plutt dead. Rey had been tight-lipped on the cause of it but Poe, after reading her file and Plutt’s, had a few guesses._

_“You wanted gin in this, right?” The bar tender asked him, immediately after pouring in a good amount of gin._

_“No, I didn’t,” Poe said, “But it’s fine, just – “_

_The bar tender shook his head, dumping the contents. “Mr. Ren says we only give the best here. I’ll have to start over. What did you want again?”_

_Poe glanced behind him. He could see Rey’s expression was the exact shade of white she’d gone when she’d been informed that_ he’d _be her fake fiancé for this mission. She was either going to shut down or throw Ren in the fountain. Not that he wouldn’t love to see the latter, but it would blow their mission. Poe turned back to the bar tender, waving his hands._

_“Just give me whatever is fastest,” he said._

_The bar tender stopped and looked at him. “You want me to start something different?”_

_Finally, the airhead handed over the drinks, which Poe took in such a rush he nearly sloshed them over the sides. He was careful to glide up next to Rey causally, bumping into her elbow purposefully, like giving her a touchpoint._

_“Here, Sunshine,” he said, handing over the drink. Rey turned to smile at him; Poe didn’t miss the miniscule tightening of it, like she was trying to tell him something. Poe let him linger on her expression, telling himself that this was what lovestruck couples did. Finally, he tore his eyes from her to look at Ren, smiling and holding out his now-free hand. “I don’t believe we’ve had the pleasure.”_

_Ren introduced himself, asking after Poe’s name while Poe explained_ yes, _he would know it, Poe had been involved in that Paris project a few months back. But Ren wasn’t listening. He was hiding it well, but Poe could see the way his eyes darted between him and Rey, the way he looked at her like a meal to be devoured. Ren was strange to see up close like this, after having watched him for week through camera lenses and distant scopes. Ren would’ve even been handsome, if not for the way he was looking at Rey, and those nasty homicidal tendencies._

_Once Poe finished his explanation on his relation to Ren, he said, “I’m Rey’s fiancé.”_

_Now Ren looked back and forth between the two of them like he was looking for some tangible marker of their relationship, like there’d be a red string tying them together that Ren had infuriatingly missed. He almost looked angry. Poe took a kind of pleasure in it, not only because he would do just about anything to ruin the bastard’s day, and not only because Rey was, objectively, intelligent and impressive, which made him somewhat impressive too. There were other reasons. Probably. He just couldn’t think of them right now._

_“I wasn’t aware you were engaged,” Ren said to Rey, like they’d been friends for years and her not telling him was somehow a personal insult._

_“Ah, well,” Poe offered his arm to Rey, who took it fiercely. Her nails dug into his bicep, even through his pastel suit. “It was a bit of a whirlwind, wasn’t it, darling?”_

_Poe launched into the practiced story. He was on business in East Berlin when his car gave out –_ to be expected with the _junkers_ over there, hey? - _but it turned out to be the_ luckiest _thing that had ever happened to him, because that was where he met Rey, who was the mechanic that tended to his car._

_“I have to say, the second I saw her, I knew I’d chase her across the world. You could almost say it was a mission of mine,” Poe said, drawing Rey’s eyes. “She really took my breath away. Almost like getting hit by one of those junkers, you know what I mean?”_

_Rey was fighting a smile, more out of principle, it seemed. But his double entendre did its job; her hand had loosened around his arm, no longer gripping him in the death grip it had before. He could see the glint of her ring there, half-hidden in the folds of his jacket._

_They escaped with just a little more small talk, building up their connection, before Ren offered to entertain them for dinner. It was good news – fantastic, actually. But Poe was fairly certain the three whiskeys Rey drowned back in their room weren’t celebratory._

_Poe could tell how much Ren made Rey’s skin crawl. For all his criticisms, she did hide it well, but Poe could feel the way feel the way her hand tightened on his bicep on and off whenever Ren spoke, like she was preparing to make a fist to deck him. Ren had kissed her hand again before departing and Rey had disappeared to the bathroom shortly after, spending twenty minutes in there that Poe was fairly certain consisted of her scrubbing the first layer of skin off her hands._

_Poe didn’t blame her. He would’ve squirmed too, if Ren had looked at him the way he looked at Rey: like she was both a lab dissection and the subject of every fantasy Ren ever had._

_Once back in their room, Rey cranked the radio while she raided the mini bar, changed out of the green dress as fast as she could. While she spun around to Springsteen in the bedroom, Poe began his report for Leia on the couch in their suite’s living room, which he’d claimed as his bed. Poe had a hard time concentrating – Rey, swaying with the tumbler in and out of the room, was hardly fair competition against his official report._

_Poe stood to close the door between the two of them just as the whirling, happy croons of Whitney Houston started, and Rey finished her spin just in time to face him. She was wearing those ridiculous oversized sunglasses and loose pajamas not unlike her mechanic’s coveralls, along with an easy smile._

_“I’m just going to close these, kay?” Poe said, holding the doorknobs. Rey bounced happily from foot to foot as the chorus started in full swing and she held out her hands, speaking over Houston’s plea for someone to dance with her._

_“Come on, it’s been a long day,” Rey said, before her smile took on a challenging edge, “Or are you scared, Dameron?”_

_She knew what button to press. The challenge made his shuck his coat, leaving him in his shirt and dress pants, to step close and take her hand._

_(Though, to be entirely honest, she could’ve chosen any button – any of them would’ve worked.)_

_Rey giggled as he spun her, looking like the twenty-five-year-old she actually was, for once._

_Rey hummed along to the song as he took her hands and drew her in closer, that same smile on her face. The song swelled to a climax, the bouncing, happy insistence to dance with somebody enough to have both of them spinning and jumping and laughing to the song, Rey a little wobbly but unable to lose that natural grace she possessed._

_As the song wound down another started, slower. Rey smiled, holding his hand where she stopped mid-turn. “I love this song,” she said, pushing her silly sunglasses up into her hair._

_Poe tugged gently on her hand, drawing her back in. Her free hand settled on his shoulder and his went to her hip. “They have Fleetwood Mac in East Berlin?”_

_“My neighbour,” Rey said, “He had this record player... it was a secret from the police, I don’t know how he got it... but sometimes he would forget to close his window, and he used to play this.” Rey shut her eyes and swayed with him, listening. Quietly, she began to sing, “Can I handle the seasons of my life? Mmm..._ ”

_She had a lovely voice. Like one of those old Hollywood stars, all clear consonants and flowing vowels._

_There was something about Rey that made Poe want to tuck her close, but at the same time knowing she didn’t_ need _it, just... for all their arguments and bickering, she was kind. She was so so kind and she’d endured so much. She deserved better than what she had. She deserved softness and silliness, even if it made Poe feel like a bit of a fool._

_Poe, a little self-conscious, joined in with her, “Well I’ve been ‘fraid of changin’...”_

_It was worth the way Rey looked up at him, with_ that _smile. It wasn’t bright or blinding, but soft. The softest thing he’d ever seen._

_Maybe_ he _was drunk too._

_Rey leaned into him, so her cheek brushed against his. He was hyper-aware of the stubble that scratched against her smooth cheek. She didn’t seem to mind; so quiet he could barely hear her, even with her mouth beside his ear, she sighed out the lyrics with him._

_It was almost too much; Poe had to shut his eyes. He thought of Rey’s bed at Plutt’s shop, nothing more than a pile of dirty blankets. He thought of the way she’d looked in that green dress. He thought of her hands curled around the steering wheel back in Berlin, white with tightness. He thought of her confidence –_ I'm one of those superhuman freaks, _and_ I’m _better_ at it.

_The song wound away from them, leaving them in seconds of silence that pooled around them like rain. Rey pulled away from his cheek but stayed close, prompting Poe to open his eyes. Her freckles were the shape of every constellation in the sky._

_Her eyes dropped to his lips and back up again. When she sighed, he could smell whiskey._

_“You’re drunk, sweetheart,” he said, almost surprised by how much it hurt to say that._

_Rey pulled away immediately. The radio host came on to speak and Poe wanted to shut it off, to step back into her and sway like they’d been doing – but the moment was gone. Rey was turning away from him, busying herself with the radio. Poe felt his shoulders sink but he didn’t say anything, turning around to the doors, which he shut carefully behind him._

\\\\\///

The mansion was surrounded by a thick, lush forest that Rey fell instantly in love with. When Poe announced at breakfast that he’d be giving the two of them a crash course on wilderness survival, Rey hovered by the door until Finn and Poe were ready, eager to get out there.

It smelled fresh like morning dew, the air cool in the shade that gathered around the trees. Poe began to lecture about something about following the sun into the treeline, but Rey wasn’t really listening. As soon as they entered the treeline, Rey tipped her chin back and shut her eyes, breathing deeply. It felt like the forest air was clearing out her lungs after breathing only the black smoke and smog of the city for more than two decades. Each breath made her feel cleaner, newer.

Finn took their lesson very seriously. He’d lived in the woods for Luke for the first year of his training, but that was somewhere tropical, unlike the forest they were in now. He walked beside Poe and asked questions while Rey trailed behind them, grazing her fingers across delicate leaves and rough bark, wanting to experience it all. When sunlight broke through the trees it was warm, making her shed her coat and hang it over her arm. Beebee brought up the end of their little party, rolling back and forth between Poe and Finn and Rey, trailing behind them, occasionally getting distracted by a flower or squirrel.

Beebee brushed up beside her at one point, holding out two little yellow flowers grasped between his claws. Rey smiled and took them, “Thank you, Bee.” She fixed one of the flowers behind her ear then put the other behind Beebee’s antennae, so they matched.

“There,” Rey said, smiling, “That’s lovely.” Bee rolled up and cuddled against her knee, cooing, before he raced off to show Poe, interrupting his conversation with Finn.

Rey watched Poe kneel in front of Beebee while the droid showed off his flower, tilting his head playfully from side to side. Poe always kneeled when he spoke to Beebee, she noticed. It was a little thing, but Rey thought it spoke volumes, that Poe was always willing to lower himself and speak to Bee on his level. It complimented his character.

There was a shift in the air; Rey paused as she felt it, as something interrupted the calm of the forest. There was a shift in the air, something felt different, in a way that made Rey’s gut warn her. Rey turned towards the shift, knowing its direction like she would know where a sound came from.

Rey stood and walked towards it, stopping at the edge of the path. Beebee beeped, rolling nervously into her calf and peeking around it into the woods where she looked. When she glanced at Poe and Finn, they were examining some plant, oblivious to her feeling. Rey set a soothing hand on Bee’s head before starting after the noise, stepping off the path and onto grass, moving towards the trees on a narrow deer path that darted through bushes and fallen logs. Beebee followed loyally, using his attachments to haul himself over and around fallen logs. Soon, they were far from the path where the trees were closer together and the sun only appeared in random rays as it peeked through the canopy.

The feeling grew stronger as she walked, confirming her direction. She darted her eyes around, strained her ears for some indication of something being not right. Then she heard it – a quiet, sad bleating to her right. Rey stepped carefully towards it, finally spotting the source. A small fawn was laid on the ground, its leg bent at an angle that turned Rey’s stomach. Its eyes were blinking slowly, like it was fighting sleep. But Rey could feel the pain rolling off it like the smell of rot, overwhelming and making her eyes water.

“Hello,” Rey said softly, approaching slowly. She could feel the fawn’s fear suddenly swell; it was like breathing in engine exhaust, thick and poisonous. “Shh,” Rey hushed soothingly, holding her hand out.

Rey glanced at Beebee, who glanced back. She sent him a smile then looked back at the deer. Kneeling in front of the deer, she kept her hand outstretched, where the animal could smell it. With another hand, she touched the broken leg. Despite her gentleness, the deer still jerked, making Rey’s heart lurch. Rey knew, with a certainty that was like breathing, what to do.

She sighed slowly and shut her eyes, focusing her energy into the hand on the deer’s leg. The fawn bleated weakly and Rey focused a little harder, pouring her energy into the fawn.

“Rey,” a voice said, in a sigh of relief, “There you are.”

Rey ignored the voice, letting it pass through her like air. Slowly, the pain and fear dissolved from the air and the fawn stopped trembling under her hand. She opened her eyes carefully and looked at the fawn – the leg was straight and no longer at that angle, no longer shaking with pain. The fawn looked at her with its wide, soft eyes before lifting its head and laying it in her lap, blinking sweetly up at her.

“You’re welcome,” she said quietly, reaching tentatively to stroke the soft fur on its head.

“Rey,” the voice said again. Rey looked over her shoulder at Poe, finding him standing on the edge of the small clearing she was kneeled in.

The fawn called her attention back as it began to stand in front of her, wobbly, but still standing. Gently, it bumped its head into her chest, like it was saying another thank you, before it turned and walked off. Rey followed its path and realized there was a doe standing on the edge of the clearing, watching warily. It nuzzled the fawn as it passed and, with a final look at Rey, turned and walked off with it.

Rey folded her hands in front of her and smiled after the deer before she looked up at Poe, who was looking at her with an expression she couldn’t quite decipher.

She felt herself flush. “Not bad for a superhuman freak, hey?” She said it lightly, but Poe looked jerkily at her.

He stepped forward and stopped again. “Rey,” he said, “I’m sorry, I never should’ve said that. It was a total bogus thing to say - “

Rey shook her head, waving him off, “That’s not what I meant.”

“It would be fair,” Poe said, “If it was.” He shook his head and stepped forward, all the way to where she was sitting this time, offering his hand. “It’s that I've seen what Ren can do. _Has_ done. It was hard to imagine what that power can do in the right hands. But it’s damn beautiful, Rey. What you can do is beautiful.”

Rey felt herself blush. She took Poe’s hand and let him help her up, turning to look at the place where the deer had been, but they were gone. She stayed there a moment, looking after the deer, while Poe only looked at her.

\\\\\///

_Rey left the suite before Poe did in the morning, somehow slipping past him on the couch and out the door without waking him. He found her in Finn’s room, leaned against the doorframe of Finn’s balcony; she didn’t look at him when he entered._

_Poe tried to come in as casually as possible, slipping in and sticking to the opposite wall as Rey. He didn’t look at her, even. Mostly. He stole a few glances._

_Finn, seated at the desk and poking at some of his tech, raised his eyebrows at Poe; it was very_ what the hell did you do _?_

_Poe bristled a little at being assumed for fault – Rey was the one who was dancing,_ Rey _was the one who started singing..._

_Poe looked over at her. Her hands were pinned behind her back and she was looking out to the city, her long hair loose around her. Never mind. He couldn’t blame her for anything, either._

_“Alright,” Finn said, sitting up from whatever he was working on. “Tracker’s ready. It looks like it’s not receiving. We’ll need to check it before you go.”_

_Poe bristled again at the mention of the plan, crossing his arms and looking at the carpet. Leia had informed him of it that morning during his briefing, right after he’d discovered Rey had slipped away. Ren had called to cancel their dinner plans, apparently, but Rey hadn’t let him slip away. She talked him into inviting her for lunch. Poe, even as his cover as her fiancé, had not been invited._

_He didn’t like it; he had a very bad feeling about the whole thing. He made that clear to Leia, who made it clear that she didn’t care what his feelings were on the subjective; it was their entire mission objective to get Ren alone, and Rey had accomplished it. Rey had proven herself to be capable and astute._ Rey _had the final say on if she went in, and she’d been insistent. Rey wanted to take Ren down._

_“Okay,” Rey said, the first thing he’d heard her say all morning. Her voice pulled Poe out of his thoughts, making him look over at her then away again when she nearly saw him. Rey stood, moving towards Finn, but Finn shook his head._

_“Poe’s equipment,” Finn said, looking up, “He’d know it better than me.”_

_Rey turned to Poe but didn’t quite meet his eye. Finn was looking down at his work, casually picking at something, but Poe could see his lips twitching._

_Rey stepped up onto the low coffee table and moved her dress, revealing the tracker in a garter on her thigh. Poe paused, blinking stupidly. He felt like an awkward teenager again, his palms suddenly sweaty and his limbs too big for his body. His feet weren’t listening to his brain, stuck in place._

_Rey finally looked at him, pinning him with those lovely eyes of hers. It kickstarted him into movement, wiping his palms on his pants._

Focus on the tracker _, Poe reminded himself, staring at the little metal box. But his eyes went to the pale white of her thigh, where the white garter was holding the tracker. It was the kind of garter more used for fashion than function; Poe wondered where the hell she’d gotten it. Probably, it was one of the gifts that came with their huge amount of purchases. Should he offer to get her a more practical one? Or would that make all this worse?_

_He was stalling._

_Hyperaware of his clammy palms and the way his nose was a little crooked and how he had dark bags under his eyes, he approached her, pausing to glance at her face before he reached for the tracker. She was much taller than him like this, standing up on the table like that. He had to look up to see her. Rey was staring with determination at the wall past him, like she was focused on not seeing him at all._

_Poe reached forward and touched the tracker, his fingers barely grazing Rey, but she still jerked at his touch. “Sorry,” Poe mumbled, “Sorry, I know. Hands are sweaty.”_

_Rey didn’t say anything but ground her teeth in the way she did whenever she was about to pick a fight. Poe half-wished she would. It would be familiar territory._

_When she didn’t say anything, he did, “Be careful you don’t get tempted by the dark side.” Rey snapped to look at him, eyes full of fire. He continued quickly. “I mean, I know Ren’s eyes are just_ dreamy _, but – “_

_It startled a laugh out of her, one that caused her leg to bump against Poe’s fingers, one that caused Poe’s brain to short circuit, just for a second. Poe kicked himself out of it, feeling himself relax. Carefully, he returned to the tracker, finding the problem with it. It was nothing more than making sure the receiver plug was fit in entirely; sometimes they slipped out during wear._

_Rey loomed over him. Poe swallowed._

_“Don’t worry,” she told him, “I’ve got my priorities straight.”_

_“Yeah?” Care to share?” Poe asked, looking up at her. He realized his plan had failed and he didn’t care. This wasn’t fighting; this was flirting. Shit. Maybe it’d been flirting the whole time. He_ hoped _it had been flirting this whole time._

_“I thought spies never showed their hand,” Rey said. Was she getting closer? Poe was pretty certain she was getting closer._

_“A peek never hurts,” Poe said, tracker forgotten._

_“Things look good,” Finn said loudly, making them both jump. Poe turned to glare at him and in that beat, Rey slipped away, jumping down from the table gracefully._

_“I need to go get ready,” she said, not looking back as she swept out the door. Poe’s hands clenched than stretched open at his sides as he watched her go, all the things he could say tangled up in his mouth._

_Finn shook his head at him, smiling, “Oh, you’re in trouble.”_

\\\\\///

“I was right,” Poe said, ducking behind a shipping container. “I was _right_ , and I _knew_ I’d be right, if you’d only just _listened_ to me – “

“You _are_ ,” Rey said, across the aisle from him, behind another shipping container. “ _Just_ as difficult as the day I met you. Maybe more.” The bright pink scrunchie on top of her head totally undercut her point, but. Whatever.

“Not the time, guys,” Finn called, leaning beside Poe. He had to shout it, because bullets were raining down on them.

“Sorry, Finn,” Rey called, “I couldn’t hear you over the _gunfire_ of the security that _Poe_ alerted.”

“I alerted?! _I_ alerted?!”

Finn’s idea of using the cover of the aerobics gym across the street had _seemed_ like a good idea at the time, but now all the neon just made them feel like bigger targets. At least the leg warmers had been good places to hide extra clips, which Rey pulled out now to reload her gun.

The gunfire stopped as they reloaded and Rey darted out from their hiding place, running straight at the men shooting at them. She heard Poe swear and two sets of footsteps follow her, but Rey was fastest, kicking out at the nearest guard. She knocked them over, sending their weapons skittering. By the time she straightened, Poe and Finn had taken out the other two.

“The shipment?” Rey asked, looking past them.

“They took it to the truck,” Finn said, pointing, his bright blue wristband highlighting his movement. The truck in question was now _pulling away_. Once again, Rey took off after it, sprinting as fast as she could while Poe lamented, “I wish she would stop _doing that_!”

Rey jumped, thankful she’d gone for the easy-to-run-in tights and bodysuit, foot catching on the step of the back of the box truck. Holding onto the side handle, she wrenched up the sliding door, hearing the warning alarms go of inside the cab. Rey stepped carefully into the back of the box truck, but it hit a bump and she lost her footing, falling to her knees and then her stomach.

Then a heavy weight slammed beside her, and on top of her one leg, before it quickly rolled away. Rey looked up to see Poe, trying to stand in the bumping truck too. He got to his feet first, leaning heavily on the boxes beside him and offering his hand, but Rey ignored it, getting to her feet by herself. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw Poe grin, holding his hand out for her to go first.

Rey moved to do just that when the truck changed speed – but it was slowly down, not speeding up, and carefully at that. Rey and Poe exchanged a look before glancing backwards. Finn was standing in the middle of the aisle, his hand out purposefully, his face calm.

The Force. Of course.

The truck pulled to a complete stop and Rey heard the doors of the cab open, then slam shut again with the flick of Finn’s hand.

Poe and Rey jumped out of the back and found the last two thugs passed out in the cab, where Finn had waved away their consciousness. He was pulling the first out when they rounded the edge of the cab. Poe went to help while Rey went to the other side, pulling him out too.

When Rey came back around, Poe was bent over the driver, searching his pockets. Poe was wearing a red leotard and tights, much like her own. Rey paused, just for a moment. She was _human_ , okay? And he was... doing _that_.

She shook herself out of it by the time Poe stood back up, pocketing the identifications she found in his pocket. Something to hand over to Leia, probably. “Well, I’d call that mission a success,” Poe said, dusting his hands off.

Rey looked at him, “Han’s instructions were very clear: we were supposed to be _discreet_.”

“Han Solo has never been discreet in his life,” Poe said, waving her off.

“Excuse _me_ for wanting to follow orders.’

“Orders? What orders? Han asked us to retrieve the shipment. We retrieved the shipment.”

“ _Discreetly_.”

“You know, I didn’t even want to come on this mission. Remember what I said? _I_ said, we should wait for Leia’s orders.”

“You didn’t _have_ to follow me, then, if you were so intent on _waiting_ , but _I’ve_ done enough _waiting_ in my life, so – “

They kept at it, even as they climbed into the truck and Finn took the wheel, steering them away. At some point, Poe draped his arm over her shoulders, and she leaned against him, still rolling her eyes and bickering, but tucked into his side while she did it.

///\\\\\

_Poe couldn’t stop pacing. It probably wasn’t helping Finn’s concentration, while he tried to pick at surveillance equipment and tried to make it_ work _again, but they’d been at it for over an hour, which meant that Rey’s tracker and all trace of her had been gone for over an_ hour _and Ren could have her anywhere, could be hurting her, could be torturing her, she could be_ dead _and they wouldn’t even –_

_“Poe,” Finn said suddenly, but gently, like he sensed Poe’s escalating panic. It got Poe’s attention, but wasn’t enough to stop him from pacing, making tight lines across the suite. “I need your head in this. I know you’re worried about her. I am too.”_

_Poe nodded, shoving a hand into his hair and fisting the curls, just on the edge of painful. “Yeah, yeah. Of course. What do you need?”_

_The door of their suite swung suddenly open, permitting Leia, who they’d alerted as soon as Rey went dark. Following her was a man in a beat leather jacket and a man with more facial hair than face, peering out at them between hair so thick it might’ve been fur._

_Poe looked at the men, his nerves shot and his heart beating so fast he would swear he could hear it. “Who are you?”_

_“Han Solo,” Leia said, “And Chewbacca.” Poe could care less about their names, than the title Leia gave next, “Han is Rey’s employer.”_

_Poe had a moment where he didn’t understand – like, from back at the mechanic’s shop? He thought that Unkar Plutt was the boss there, not this_ Solo _character –_

_But then it clicked. Employer. Like…_

_Han waved his hand, clearly uncomfortable with the title. “The kid works for me. But I’m not… her_ employer _, or whatever.”_

_“That’s exactly what employer means,” Leia said, sending him a half-glare._

_“You were assigned to Rey,” Poe said, looking between Leia and Han, “Then you should be doing more than just_ standing _there. She’s gone dark and no one knows what’s happened to her – you should be doing more to protect her, she’s not an_ agent _, she’s just a girl that we dragged into the middle of all this!”_

_“Poe Dameron,” Leia said warningly, cutting him off. “Han doesn’t work for our agency. He’s an ally. Han is more of a… freelancer. But his ideas are parallel to our own.”_

_Poe looked at Finn, who looked just as confused as Poe felt. Poe said, “What does that mean?”_

_Han’s next words were a sucker punch. “Rey’s been working with you for a week,” he said, crossing his arms, “She’s been with me for the better part of a year.”_

_“What?” Poe said, though the word was barely audible._

_Turns out, Finn hadn’t been the first to reach Rey after all. Rey found Han the year previous, all on her own. She found Han, who’d been working as a smuggler on her side of the wall and convinced him to_ do _something. She could sense Ren and his intentions; she was determined to warn someone who could do something about it._

_“When I told her she should be that someone, she decided she would be,” Han shrugged, “I didn’t really do anything, just… gave her what she needed. Information, mostly. Whole reason why Rey had caught on to Ren in the first place was the shipments he moved through Plutt’s shop. Rey had been working with me when Plutt caught on to her work. He tried to blackmail her.” Han’s expression went dark. “The lightning hadn’t been planned, but it’d been effective. Brought you and Finn_ and _Ren to her doorstep within the week.”_

_Finn asked, “She knew we’d come for her?”_

_“She’d hoped,” Han said, “I’m no_ spy _like you, but I know in order to win a game, you gotta know the players. She wanted to know who was involved. I advised her to go with whoever came first, excepting Ren.”_

_Han continued his explanation. His mentorship had hardly been traditional, but it’d been invaluable, apparently. The hap-hazard, informal training. Her own surveillance of the Finn and Poe – the check-ins she’d performed when Poe had left her, when she_ thought _she was safe and alone, leaving her behind so he could so some of the side missions Leia and Luke left for him and Finn. When he’d been doing his own check-ins on Rey during his nighttime missions, she’d shot back her snarky, smile-inducing answers while on call with Han._

_“Who do you work for, then?” Finn asked. That was the question Poe should’ve been asking. The thing a_ spy _would want to know. But all Poe was in the moment was Poe Dameron, and all he could think about was Rey. Rey was a liar. The girl he’d danced with was a liar. He shouldn’t be so shaken up by it all. But he was._

_He’d fallen for it. Hook, line, and sinker._

_“No one,” Han said, a bit offended. “Sometimes I_ help _. Leia and Luke. But I don’t like rules and I don’t like organizations and agencies. Too many rules.” Beside him, Leia rolled her eyes, like she knew better._

_Poe finally found his voice. “And you sent her in alone?”_

_“She’s capable,” Han said, offended again, but apparently more on Rey’s behalf. “You’ve seen her in action.” He crossed his arms and leaned in, “Got a message from her last night. Ren was about to make both you and Finn, had footage from that warehouse you broke into the other night. He was going to get the spies on it_ taken care of _. So Rey suggested burning her own cover to protect your stupid asses.”_

_“She went dark on purpose?” Poe asked._

_“Her idea,” Han said, “And it was a damn good one. She saved both of you_ and _the mission in one swoop.”_

_Poe felt anger start to curl up in his stomach. He grasped it desperately, beyond relieved at the feeling of_ anything _aside from the horrible pit that had opened up within him. “You_ let _her do that?”_

_Han said, “Not her boss, remember? Have you met Rey? I haven’t_ let _her do anything. This was her plan, which she made to protect_ you _, which I supported her in. We’ve gotta let her play this one out. Look, I’ve been following this Ren kid for years. Rey’s the only person who could manipulate him as well as he will try to manipulate her.”_

_“You sent her in,” Poe said, “All on her own? Without a way to call for help?”_

_“She has a panic switch, which will send us her location. Otherwise, we wait,” Han said pointedly, “We have to_ trust _her.”_

_Poe’s heart caught, feeling overwhelmed and terrified and angry, all in one swoop. “So let me get this straight. You made this plan. She purposefully disabled her tracker. She went dark. And you_ supported _her? You didn’t send in any backup or any support, you just let her… I can’t believe how totally_ moronic _that was. Don’t you care about her? She’s your agent and you just sent her in totally blind on her first solo mission and what kind of handler are you, anyways, to completely ignore any kind of regulation – “_

_“Poe Dameron,” Leia’s voice snapped at him, standing. “Take a walk. You can join us again when your contributions will be productive.”_

_Poe stomped out of the room, slamming the door. His hands were shaking. His head was spinning. He needed to figure out where Rey went. He needed to help her, because, if he was to trust what Han said, she_ did _lie, but now she was putting herself on the line for him and that wasn’t okay, he needed to –_

_Poe wanted to hit something. He wanted to run. But he had nowhere to run to._

_“Poe,” Finn appeared. He reached out and grasped Poe’s arms, “Poe, I can find her but you have to calm down.”_

_“A panic button?” Poe asked, on his own train of thought, “A bloody panic button, when Ren for sure searched her for the minute she revealed herself, what the_ fuck _?”_

_“Poe,” Finn shook him a little, “I’ll use the Force.”_

_Poe paused. His heart was still hammering. “Is that really how the Force works?”_

\\\\\///

Rey found Poe working in their makeshift armoury, a grand room that had been converted for its new purpose in a rather lackluster way; either that or the person who’d converted the mansion didn’t have the heart to mount the studded panels that held their guns and knives on the delicate and intricate walls. Whatever the case, it was a bit like a second, smaller room had been built in, the dark metal and utilitarian set up clashing badly with the original grandeur of the room.

She stopped in the doorway, watching him work for a moment. It was rare to see Poe unobserved; he always seemed to know when he was being watched, and always seemed to put on a bit of bravado for it, smiling at the corner of his mouth or shaking out his hair. It made Rey want to roll her eyes at him, but also kind of made her want to kiss him.

Rey felt herself blush, though it was only something she’d thought in her _head_ , and it wasn’t even the first time she’d thought it.

Poe didn’t seem to notice he was being watched. He was too entrenched in his work, putting together what looked like different droid parts on the work bench, a screw between his teeth while he fixed its twin in place.

Rey knew he’d assembled Beebee himself, building the little droid from scratch and programming his personality with complex coding that Rey herself only had a rudimentary understanding of. The last time he did some maintenance on Bee, he’d guided Rey’s hand inside Beebee’s chassis to show her the wiring and various resets, just in case Beebee ever needed them.

Beyond Poe’s technical knowledge, Rey knew that he had given Beebee language and emotions and that Beebee called him _Dad-Poe_ with every affection. It endeared her to him, just a little more.

She cleared her throat quietly and watched him be drawn out of his fiddling, looking up. When he saw her, he smiled softly and sat up.

“Hey,” he said, his voice soft too. She wondered if this was what he was like every morning, quiet and a little tousled. She wouldn’t mind finding out. Poe gestured for her to come closer, moving over on the work bench though the rest of it was empty. Rey took the spot he’d freed up anyways, their thighs and hips and ribs all pressing together.

“What’re you making?” Rey asked him, looking at the pieces before him. Her eyes caught on his notes. They were scrawled in a language she didn’t know, and she spread her fingers over the dark words, like that would grant access to their meaning.

“Update for Bee,” Poe answered, but his eyes were on the paper too. “Spanish,” he said, reading her mind. “It’s my first language.”

His English was accented like an American’s, but his German was like a local’s, and so were the little bits of French she’d heard him speak. She shouldn’t have been surprised to learn English wasn’t his first language, but she still kind of was. She said, “Where are you from?” And then immediately bit her tongue – were spies supposed to ask that? Could he answer that? Did she just put him in a strange position, either because of his job or maybe his own past was as black as her own, starting midway through childhood and painful to think of –

“Guatemala,” he said, drawing her attention again. “South America. My family moved to the States when I was quite young, though, up into Florida.”

Rey felt herself relax. She teased, “So that’s why you talk like a hick.” She pressed herself into his side, so he knew she was joking. Rey watched him sputter in faux offence, but he set his hand carefully on her knee and squeezed, so she knew it was an act.

“I’ll have you know,” he said, keeping up the ruse, “Yours is the English that’s accented. Halfway between lower class Brit and German mechanic.”

Rey laughed, leaning her head against his shoulder. Normally, she would’ve had a snappy comeback, but he was still holding her knee, and it felt strangely intimate. He’d become more generous with his touch since Rome, since her rescue from Ren, though she’d insist she had done most of the rescuing.

“Hey,” Poe said, low. He bumped his cheek against her head, where it was still leaned on his shoulder. “I have something I want to show you.”

They detangled to stand and Rey was a little disappointed at the end of their contact. But when she stuck close to his side, he lifted his hand into the small of her back, just as he had done when they were pretending to be engaged.

She missed the ring sometimes, realizing it wasn’t on her finger and being sent into a panic of _where’d she lose it_ before she remembered that she returned it to Poe. Rey was still glad that she did; if she looked over now, she could see where the collar of his shirt lifted, showing her that he was wearing the ring on a chain around his neck. Wherever the ring came from, it was important to him. One day, she’d ask about it.

Poe used his free hand to open a door across the hall, swinging it open in some grand gesture for her. She was busy laughing at him and almost didn’t notice the room in front of her. But when she saw what the fuss was, it wiped the smile off her face, making her eyes go round with wonder.

It was like the library downstairs, but instead of books, the shelves were full of _music_. There were records and cassettes and books of sheet music. A piano stood in one corner, a record player in another. The room itself was small, compared to the other rooms of the house, but there was a cassette player and every record she could hope for – its purpose in a spy’s mansion was only half-answered by the table of organized audio equipment, tucked away in the only free corner. But Rey didn’t care about getting an explanation. She just wanted to listen to _all_ of it.

Rey stepped forward quickly, inspecting the line of portable cassette players on one of the shelves. They were different than the one she’d found left for her, like someone had made a special trip to town to get it for her, or, even more romantically, gave up their own. Rey thought of that cassette player, still in her room, of the Whitney Houston album she was sure to destroy with too much use.

“Here,” Poe said. He was standing at one of the bookcases holding cassettes, pulling off a specific tape. He turned to hold it out to her, wearing a smile that was almost shy. Rey took the two steps to reach him and saw it was Fleetwood Mac. She grinned, taking it from his hand and flipping it over for the track listing. She found what she was looking for on side B; it was the second song.

Rey meant to say something about the album – to say thank you or something, for showing her this room and this cassette and even leaving her that player – but when she looked up, Poe was looking at her the same way he had back in Rome, when they’d danced in her room. She remembered his stubble scraping her cheek and the way his hand tightened on her waist while they sung the chorus together.

She reached forward impulsively, running her fingers along the hem of his shirt. It was folded up a little and she straightened it up, lightly touching his waist in the meantime.

“Han told me to be careful around you,” she said, looking up and watching his reaction carefully.

“After how I treated him?” Poe said casually, “That’s probably fair.” But his shoulders were suddenly too tight and straight. He seemed to be looking just over her shoulder, rather than at her, just like he’d taught her to do when uncomfortable.

“Yeah,” Rey said, “But in my agency,” she smiled at the description – could her, Han, and Chewbacca even be called an agency? She decided it could. “Rules and orders are a lot less restrictive than yours. They’re more… suggestions.”

“Yeah?” Poe said, still trying for casual but missing it by a mile. His voice had changed. She felt its new timbre deep in her stomach.

Rey hummed and watched as Poe took a step closer. “I appreciate all the work you’ve done with me. Teaching me,” Rey told him. “There’s one lesson I’ve been waiting for, though.”

“What’s that?”

“Cover kiss,” she said, watching him take a deep breath in. He licked his lips but didn’t move closer.

“There’s no one to cover from here,” the way he was staring at her mouth undercut his own point. Especially when he took another step forward, setting his hands lightly on her hips.

But insecurity niggled at Rey. She set her hand on his chest, “If you don’t – “

“No,” Poe said quickly, hands tightening on her hips. “Not a problem. I think we can make do.”

“Me too,” Rey replied, winding her arms around his shoulders and leaning in.

Poe’s stubble was just the right side of rough, his lips plush and soft. His hands ran up her sides to her ribs, thumbs stroking her stomach, chest brushing hers. Poe hummed, pulling away slightly to speak.

“You’re right. You need to practice this.”

Rey went to scoff, but Poe was already kissing her again, pulling her even closer. He pulled away again suddenly, mumbling, “I didn’t mean to imply you were bad at this, sweetheart.”

Rey pulled him in again, speaking between kisses. “I know.”

Poe mumbled again, one hand going to her jaw, “I just want to keep kissing you. Thought it’d be charming.”

Rey groaned, pulling away. She fisted her hand into his hair, leaning her forehead against his. “Poe, shut up. I’m trying to kiss you.”

Poe let out a little half-groan. “Good plan, beautiful.” He let her pull him in, his hands sliding lower.

///\\\\\

_Poe’s heart wasn’t going to make it through this day. He was certain that it wasn’t. First with Rey going on that mission, then her going dark. Then finding her, making chase as Ren dragged her away in a Jeep. They’d shot after them into the woods, Finn in his own Jeep and Poe on a stolen motorbike, with some kind of grand plan to skip the road and stab out Ren’s tires when he caught up._

_The good news was: it worked. Poe wasn’t surprised, his best plans were usually the ones he thought through the least. The one drawback was that, as soon as Poe had stabbed the front tire, the Jeep pulled towards him, knocking Poe clean off the road before he could get out of the way._

_The world spun and spun and spun as he rolled down the hill on the side of the road, bashing into saplings and bushes and rocks, one which he hit his head on, the world going murkier and a horrible taste bursting into his mouth. When he finally stopped, he didn’t realize it, because his head was still spinning, and he kept his eyes shut, trying to right it again._

_By the time he was able to open he eyes, he realized a part of the bike had landed on him and was kind of crushing him. Painfully, he turned his head, spotting Ren’s Jeep on its side not far ahead of him. Finn was breaking the windshield. He blinked. The world was going in and out. Then Finn was half-carrying, half-dragging Rey from the vehicle, her arms reaching to grab his. She was moving. That was good. She was moving. She was going to be okay._

_Poe turned his head back to look up at the sky, watching the rain fall towards them. He’d never looked up at the rain before and watched how it seemed to appear from nowhere, dropping down from the light grey clouds. It was cold. But Rey – Rey was warm. Rey was always warm._

_Poe sighed, bracing his hands on the piece of motorcycle that had landed on top of him. He hauled it off himself, groaning, then rolled to his side. He could see Finn still supporting Rey, moving her away from the wrecked Jeep. Rey needed the support, wobbling like a newborn deer, knees shaking._

_But she stopped, fisting her hands into Finn’s shirt, as they passed the driver’s side. She leaned her hand on the side of the wrecked Jeep and looked in, face unreadable. And kind of blurry. Poe wanted to get closer._

_“Up,” Poe said to himself, commanded himself, like he would when he had to rise too early, pretending that was the reason for the heaviness of his limbs and his head and his chest. Poe pushed himself off the ground, grinding his teeth as he did. His whole body hurt, but none of his bones had that sharp, horrible pain that meant they were broken. That was good. That was good, that meant he could stand, which he did._

_He stumbled up the hill, reaching Finn, who reached out a hand to help him._

_“Good, Finn?” Poe mumbled, holding Finn’s hand but still moving._

_“’m good,” Finn replied, waving him off. He seemed to be in the best shape of any of them, but he had a nasty black eye that Poe didn’t remember him getting. Did he crash, too? “You good?”_

_“Yeah,” Poe squeezed his hand then released, setting his eyes on Rey. She was bleeding from her forehead and had some nasty-looking scratches running down her arm. But she was standing. A little too still. She staring, a little too hard, into the wrecked Jeep._

_Stumbling on the uneven ground, he finally reached her, where she was still staring into the car, as if mesmerized. Her face was strangely blank. Poe glanced in and saw Ren – or, what was left of him. Half his face was gone, smashed in by the dashboard, his body half-slung over the steering wheel. His seatbelt was halfway across his body. Like someone had hit the release just as they’d crashed._

_Poe looked away quickly, grabbing Rey’s arm blindly and looking her in the face. “Rey?” He tugged her closer, turning her head gently away from the gore. “Rey, sweetheart. You okay?”_

_Rey’s eyes rapidly filled with tears. She nodded, looking away from Ren finally. Then she shook her head, a sob bubbling out._

_“Oh, Rey,” he said, trying to be soft but his voice was all gravel. “Rey,” he pulled her in for a hug, pulling her head protectively under his chin. “I’ve got you. I’ve got you, hero.” She gripped his shirt tightly, releasing shuddering breaths against his neck._

_Finn stood back up with a groan and approached them. Poe extracted one of the arms he had around Rey and pulled him in, too, Rey reaching her arm around Finn’s ribs, touching Poe’s arm behind Finn’s back. Poe held the two of them close, maybe the most important people in his life. His heart twisted. They_ were _the most important people in his life and he was about to lose them. The mission was over. Ren was dead. And Poe was going to lose the people who mattered most._

_Poe didn’t know how long they all stood like that, clinging to each other like that. Finn’s ribs expanded against his own and Rey still had her face in his neck, her mouth pressed to his pulse. He never wanted to let go._

_The sound of chopper blades cut through the air. Rey curled into the two of them more tightly, like she wanted to stay as they were. But Poe looked up to see a helicopter preparing for landing. Finn raised the arm around Rey to wave them down._

_Leia, Han, and Luke all loaded off the copter. As they approached, Luke asked if any of them were hurt. As one, Finn and Poe presented Rey, helping her sit down on the edge of the copter once it had powered down, wrapping a blanket around her shoulders. Rey had started shaking sometime in their movement to the copter, teeth rattling. Poe rubbed his hand up and down her unscratched arm, trying to get warmth back into her._

_“Shock, probably,” Luke said. He smiled at Rey, as gentle as Poe had ever seen him. “You’ll be just fine, Rey.”_

_Poe and Finn took turns filling them in while Luke checked Rey over, watching her pupils and bandaging her arm carefully. Poe stood behind Rey’s shoulder, wedged between her and the copter so Rey leaned into Poe, eyes shut. Every so often Rey would fill in a detail they were missing, like the fact that Rey had tried to get into her head using his powers, that he’d failed and she’d turned it on him. That Ren’s anger had been his own downfall. That Ren still had one more warhead, a fact he’d gloated at her in his moment of triumph before Finn and Poe had come to ruin it. Ren also had time to tell her he’d stashed the second warhead far away, on a ship in the middle of the ocean._

_“We’ve recovered one warhead,” Leia said, “It’s good. But it’s not enough.”_

_Rey said, her voice steadier than it had been before, “It’s all we need.” She opened her eyes to look at Han, who started to smile._

_The warheads each contained a homing device that would send one to the other with the flick of a switch. It meant that, once activated, one would find the other to make the blast twice as large. That probably seemed like a good idea at the time, but they’d forgotten to account for one variable: Rey._

_Poe knew how to arm the warhead they’d recovered from Ren’s Jeep; it was the mechanical equivalent of knowing which switches to flip and which wires to cross. Finn reached out with the Force and confirmed the location of Ren’s boat, floating in the middle of the ocean and full of the toxic, swirling energy of the bomb. Then it was just a matter of Leia giving her orders. And just like that, the First Order went up in smoke._

_They received confirmation from their satellites soon after, while they were waiting for an extraction team. Poe felt himself sag back against the copter with relief. The bombs were gone, turned against one another. The mission was complete._

_But then Poe remembered what that meant. Rey remained leaned into him, her back up against his hips and his stomach. Her eyes were shut. Poe had his hand curled around her shoulder and Rey leaned her cheek against it, no longer shaking._

_Poe looked up to Leia, who was at Ren’s Jeep, inspecting what was left of the villain. Han and Luke spoke quietly a few feet off from them. Poe held Rey’s shoulder a little tighter. They were probably all saying their goodbyes, preparing to split up. Maybe three separate extraction teams would show up, splitting them even from here. Poe drew up his thumb from Rey’s shoulder to brush her cheek. He looked over her head at Finn, who looked like he was thinking the same thing._

_Leia turned away from the Jeep and approached them. Poe stood a little taller, as much as he could without disturbing Rey. He could plead their case. He would._

_“Well,” Leia said, clasping her hands in front of her. Han and Luke began to approach. Finn slid beside Rey on her other side, exchanging a look with Poe._

_Poe braced himself to argue. He would insist on keeping them together; the most veteran agent of them, he thought he could convince them, maybe. Poe thought he at least had a good chance. Leia continued, “I would say the mission was a success. You found the warheads, eliminated Ren, and brought the First Order to its knees. I would call this experiment a success, too.”_

_“I would agree,” Luke said, while Han nodded._

_“Experiment?” Finn asked, standing straighter._

_Leia hummed, “We’ve been meaning to have some collaborative work for a while now. We were just waiting for the right agents. And I think we’ve found them.”_

_“Collaborative?” Rey asked, looking up at Leia._

_“A collection of people from diverse backgrounds, coming together to promote good and meet evil,” Leia said. “We’d call it the Resistance.”_

_Finn looked to Luke, “We’re not returning to our organizations?”_

_“You’ll still be part of the Jedi,” Luke said to Finn, then addressed all of them, “And you will all still answer to your respective handlers. But you will be working together as one team with a variety of skill sets.”_

_“We’ll keep you together,” Han said, shrugging like he didn’t really care about it. But he looked at Rey and smiled, softer than Poe would’ve thought from Han Solo. Then he added a little snidely, “If that works for_ you _.”_

_Rey pressed back into Poe, her eyes falling shut. They were keeping them together a little longer. They were… they were keeping them together. That meant that maybe – he looked down at Rey, who had dipped her cheek against his hand again, her breath warm as it swirled out in a sigh. Maybe Poe wasn’t wrong to hope._

**Author's Note:**

> Questions? Comments? Critiques? Tips on how to properly integrate time-specific slang while also staying true to character? I’m on [tumblr](clytemnestrad.tumblr.com).


End file.
